ACTS
p. 1, l. 1. ‘former treatise,’ better ‘First Book,’ Acts being the ‘Second Book’ of a treatise of which the Gospel according to Luke is the ‘First,’ and a contemplated ‘Third Book,’ which was not written. See Introduction, p. vi.
p. 2, l. 1. ‘Theophilus,’ the name of the noble (Luke i. 3), ‘most excellent’ (see p. 82, l. 11, p. 83, l. 15, p. 91, l. 4), the patron to whom the treatise is addressed. Nothing further is known of him. The name is common enough, both among the heathen and the Jews (translating Jedidiah), and subsequently the Christians.
p. 3, l. 15. ‘bishopric’; R.V. ‘office’; margin, ‘overseership.’
p. 6, l. 24. ‘hell’; R.V. ‘hades.’ The word expresses the realm of disembodied spirits, without implication of their varying conditions.
p. 9, l. 14. ‘Son’; R.V. ‘servant’; margin, ‘child.’ So also in verse 20, iv. 27, 30.
p. 17, l. 24. ‘Theudas,’ a very common name, the contraction of Theoderus, Theodotus, Theodosias and the like, the Greek equivalents of such Hebrew names as Jonathan, Mattaniah, Matthias, Nathanael. There is no reason why he should be identified with the Theudas of Josephus (Ant. xx. 5, 1). The times swarmed with pretenders. Josephus mentions four of the name of Simon, and three of the name of Judas within the space of ten years. There may have been a corresponding number of Theudases, and if any one mentioned by Josephus is to be identified with this one, we may think possibly of the Matthias, son of Margalothus (Ant. xvii. 6, 2, et seq.).
p. 17, l. 28. ‘Judas’; mentioned also by the same designation by Josephus (Ant. xviii. 1, 6, xx. 5, 2; B.J. ii. 8, 1, xvii. 8). Elsewhere he calls him a Gaulonite (Ant. xviii. 1, 1).
p. 18, l. 19. ‘Grecians … Hebrews.’ Two classes of Jews are meant—Hellenistic Jews who spoke Greek, and Palestinian Jews whose native tongue was Hebrew.
p. 26, ll. 10, 15. ‘bewitched’; R.V. ‘amazed.’
p. 28, l. 26. Omit from ‘And Philip’ to ‘Son of God’ in l. 29.
p. 29, ll. 22-26. Omit from ‘it is hard’ to ‘And the Lord said unto him.’
p. 32, l. 5. ‘Grecians’; R.V. ‘Grecian Jews’; margin, ‘Hellenists.’ See on p. 18, l. 19.
p. 34, l. 4. Omit ‘he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.’
p. 39, l. 17. ‘Grecians.’ See on p. 18, l. 19, p. 29, ll. 22-26. Some ancient authorities, followed by R.V., read ‘Greeks.’
p. 40, l. 24. ‘Easter,’ rather ‘the Passover’ (R.V.).
p. 43, l. 14. ‘sent’ them away,’ better ‘dismissed them,’ a setting free for work rather than a despatching upon a mission (v. 4) being perhaps intended.
p. 43, l. 23. ‘deputy of the country,’ better ‘proconsul’ (R.V.), the proper title of the governor of Cyprus, used by Acts with its usual exactness.
p. 43, l. 23. ‘Sergius Paulus’; nothing further is known of him. The name L. Sergius Paulus occurs on a Roman inscription belonging to the reign of Claudius; a Cyprian inscription speaks of a proconsul Paulus; Pliny mentions either a Sergius Paulus or a Sergius Plautus.
p. 43, l. 25. ‘Elymas’; some ancient texts give the name as Etoimas or Etoimos, in which case it is tempting to conjecture that the same person is meant who is called Atomos in the best texts of Josephus (Ant. xx. 7).
p. 53, l. 9. ‘Silas,’ a familiar diminutive of ‘Silvanus,’ used in Acts in accordance with its habit of employing the language of conversation, while Paul uses the full form (1 Thess. i. 1; 2 Thess. i. 1).
p. 53, l. 17. Omit ‘saying … keep the law.’
p. 54, ll. 9, 10. Omit ‘Notwithstanding … abide there still.’
p. 56, l. 5. ‘a river side,’ rather ‘the.’ The article is omitted because the familiar term ‘river’ had the quality of a proper name at Philippi: ‘he went outside the gate to “River-side.”’
p. 56, l. 29. ‘magistrates,’ Greek ‘praetors,’ here used broadly and by courtesy for the chief magistrate of a Roman colony.
p. 61, l. 12. Omit ‘blood.’
p. 62, l. 19. ‘pressed in spirit’; R.V. ‘constrained by the word.’ It means ‘taken captive by the word,’ ‘absorbed,’ ‘completely engrossed’ in the word.
p. 64, ll. 4, 5. Omit ‘I must … but.’
p. 68, l. 13. ‘robbers of temples,’ a technical term, rendering the Latin sacrilegus, designating an offender against the majesty of Rome. It is difficult to reproduce the term in English, because we have no usage which treats one offence against the State as a religious deliction. If we render ‘neither sacrilegists nor blasphemers of our goddess,’ or ‘neither impious nor blasphemous,’ we miss the point, which is the coupling of offences against Rome and Ephesus, thus exhaustively enumerating the capital offences possible in the case.
p. 71, l. 9. ‘no more,’ perhaps, better, ‘no longer.’ Paul is not publishing a prediction, but announcing a purpose; his plans were now to take him from this region.
p. 73, l. 25. ‘we took up our carriages and,’ better ‘having made ready we’ (R.V. margin). The allusion is probably not to the baggage but to the horses; they were to ride the rest of the way.
p. 73, l. 27. ‘brought with them,’ better ‘conducting us to.’ Mnason lived at the end of the first day’s journey, not at Jerusalem, and the Caesareans escorted them so far on the way.
p. 73, l. 28. ‘an old disciple’; R.V. ‘an early disciple,’ i.e., ‘a primitive disciple,’ one of the first disciples of the Lord.
p. 76, l. 7. ‘that Egyptian.’ We learn from Josephus that he had threatened Jerusalem some three years before this, but had disappeared, and nothing more was heard of him. Josephus gives him 30,000 men.
p. 82, l. 11. ‘most excellent,’ a technical term of honorific address, implying high rank. See also p. 83, l. 15, p. 91, l. 4.
p. 82, l. 16. ‘an army,’ rather ‘the troops.’
p. 82, ll. 12-17. Perhaps we may read: ‘This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be slain by them, when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him. Having learned that he was a Roman, and desiring to know the reason why they accused him,’ etc.
p. 83, ll. 23-26. Omit from ‘and would have judged’ to ‘come unto thee.’
p. 87, l. 24. ‘Augustus,’ rather ‘the Augustus,’ i.e., the emperor (R.V.). So also p. 88, l. 13.
p. 91, l. 27. ‘Augustus’s band,’ lit. ‘the Augustan cohort,’ probably a band of officers on detached service is intended.
p. 92, l. 23. ‘the master and owner,’ rather ‘the sailing-master and the captain,’ the two chief officers of the ship, the former being the foreman of the sailors and the latter the master of the ship.
p. 93, l. 14. ‘we,’ rather ‘they’ (R.V.).
p. 94, l. 4. ‘Adria’; the term is used in the wider popular sense.
p. 97, l. 2. ‘were desired to tarry with them seven days,’ or, possibly, ‘we were comforted among them, tarrying seven days.’
p. 97, ll. 8-10. Omit ‘the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but.’
p. 99, ll. 3, 4. Omit these lines.
FIRST TIMOTHY
p. 100, l. 4. ‘son,’ rather ‘child.’ The term occurs also at p. 101, l. 24, p. 103, l. 11, p. 103, l. 26, p. 105, l. 24, p. 110, l. 4, p. 114, l. 3, p. 116, l. 1 in this volume, and should in all cases appear as ‘child,’ ‘children,’ not ‘son,’ ‘sons’ (R.V.).
p. 100, l. 8. ‘that they teach no other doctrine,’ lit. ‘that they be not variant teachers.’ It is not the fact that the teaching is false or inconsistent with what Paul had taught or would have taught at Ephesus that is emphasised, but that it is of essentially a different kind. Empty teaching substituted for the Gospel is just as noxious as false teaching.
p. 100, l. 11. ‘commandment’; R.V. ‘charge.’
p. 101, l. 5. ‘sound doctrine,’ a characteristic phrase in these epistles (p. 108, l. 5, p. 110, l. 16, p. 111, l. 9, p. 115, l. 15, p. 119, l. 14); and ‘sound speech’ (Titus ii. 8). The word does not mean ‘salutary,’ but ‘sensible,’ ‘sober.’ ‘Sound doctrine’ is doctrine free from admixture of error; ‘sound speech’ is speech thoroughly free from guile.
p. 105, l. 15. ‘This is a faithful saying,’ etc., a characteristic formula in these epistles (p. 103, l. 4, p. 113, l. 8, p. 116, l. 20). It adduces statements of Christian truth which had become apparently proverbial maxims in the churches, and which the apostle repeats to his correspondents as precious enshrinements of the truth by which they lived.
p. 101, l. 17. ‘first’; R.V. ‘as chief.’
p. 101, l. 26. ‘a good warfare’; R.V. ‘the.’
p. 102, l. 7. ‘godliness,’ perhaps, rather, ‘piety,’ a characteristic term in these epistles (p. 104, l. 8, p. 104, l. 28, p. 105, l. 1, p. 107, l. 28, p. 108, l. 5, p. 109, l. 20, p. 118, l. 8, cp. 118, l. 24, p. 112, l. 6). It expresses the fundamental religious disposition which forms the basis of all Christian sentiment and action.
p. 103, l. 1. ‘childbearing’; prefix ‘the’ or ‘her.’
p. 103, l. 4. ‘the office of a bishop,’ rather ‘an overseership.’ The word here is scarcely a title of office, but rather a description of function. See on p. 110, l. 12.
p. 103, l. 23. ‘even so their wives,’ perhaps, better, ‘women in like manner’ (R.V.).
p. 104, l. 5. Read rather ‘how men ought to behave in a household of God, which is a church of a living God, a pillar and stay of the truth,’ or else, ‘in God’s household, which is the living God’s church, the truth’s pillar and support.’
p. 104, l. 9. ‘God,’ better ‘who,’ or ‘He who’ (R.V.).
p. 104, l. 10. ‘unto the Gentiles,’ better ‘among the nations’ (R.V.).
p. 104, l. 13. ‘the latter’; R.V. ‘later.’
p. 107, l. 9. The allusion may be to ordination, and the prohibition to hasty induction into office; or it may be to ‘the act of blessing by which penitents were received back into the communion of the faithful,’ and refer to hasty restoration. See 2 Cor. ii. 6, et seq.
TITUS
p. 110, l. 4. ‘the common faith,’ better ‘a common faith’ (R.V.).
p. 110, l. 10. ‘blameless,’ rather ‘unblamed,’ i.e., under no charge or accusation.
p. 110, l. 12. ‘bishop,’ rather ‘overseer.’ Read ‘For he that hath the oversight must needs be under no accusation.’ The apostle is essaying a reason why elders should be chosen from among those against whom no charge can be brought; that reason is, that it is incongruous that he that is to oversee others should himself be under suspicion of wrong-doing. The word has not a designation of office, but a description of function. Possibly it is nowhere in the N. T. a title of office.
p. 110, l. 24. The quotation comes from a lost work, On Oracles, by the Cretan poet, Epimenides, who flourished in the sixth century before Christ. The terrible indictment of the Cretan character, to which Paul here adds his approval, was the common verdict of antiquity. To ‘cretize’ was a common synonym of ‘to lie.’
p. 112, l. 21. ‘the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards men,’ rather ‘tender heartedness and humanity.’ Read ‘When tender heartedness and kindliness—God our Saviour’s—appeared.’ The two words occur together frequently in Greek literature, and they are addressed by Paul in their current sense, which is not far from our simple ‘humanity.’ He says there was little humanity in the world; when it did appear, it was not ours but God’s.
SECOND TIMOTHY
p. 116, l. 14. Read with R.V. ‘Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.’
p. 119, l. 4. Or with R.V. ‘Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable.’ The compound word ‘inspired-of-God’ refers to the origination of scripture, describing it as ‘God-breathed,’ the product of God’s creative breath.
p. 119, l. 11. ‘at his appearing,’ rather, with R.V., ‘and by his appearing.’
p. 119, l. 21. ‘now ready to be offered,’ rather, with R.V. ‘am already being offered.’
p. 119, l. 22. ‘a good fight,’ rather ‘the.’
p. 119, l. 23. ‘my course,’ rather ‘the course.’
p. 119, l. 24. ‘a crown,’ rather ‘the crown.’
p. 120, l. 3. ‘Galatia,’ rather ‘Gaul.’
PHILEMON
p. 121, l. 3. ‘our beloved Apphia,’ rather ‘Apphia our sister’ (R.V.).
p. 121, l. 16. ‘convenient,’ better ‘fitting’; or R.V. ‘befitting.’
p. 121, l. 17. ‘Paul the aged,’ perhaps ‘Paul, an ambassador,’ should be read.
p. 121, l. 20. The language here is a play on the sense (not sound) of the slave’s name: Onesimus means ‘helpful.’
p. 122, l. 4. ‘mind,’ now ‘consent.’ Paul recognises Philemon’s right to dispose of the services of his slave.
p. 122, l. 13. ‘have written,’ read ‘write.’ The reference is to what is being written.
p. 122, l. 19. ‘wrote,’ read ‘write.’
p. 122, l. 23. Epaphras is sought out for a present description because he was a Colossian and a Christian worker there.